Brighton have appointed Graham Potter on a four-year deal from Welsh club Swansea. The Swans offered the 44-year-old an improved deal in an attempt to convince the former Ostersunds boss to stay this summer.
However, the lure of a Premier League job was too much and the Seagulls got their man courtesy of paying a reported compensation fee of around £2million.
Brighton have been without a boss since the end of the season, when the club from the south coast fired Chris Hughton.
Potter has shown tremendous promise
Graham Potter is seen as a highly promising young British coach, which seemingly are in short supply at the minute. The 44-year-old took an unusual route to become a Premier League boss.
He took Swedish minnows Ostersunds to three promotions and then to the last 16 of the Europa League last season, where they suffered a narrow aggregate defeat to Premier League Arsenal.
During his time at Ostersunds, Potter developed a very specific style of attacking and exciting play. The former Stoke boss used every resource he had at the Swedish club and used unconventional methods to bring success to the minnows.
His stellar performance in Sweden earned Potter the job at Championship Swansea last summer. Unfortunately, the Swans were in major financial problems and had to offload a number of big-earning players and was unable to strengthen his squad.
However, Potter managed to finish 10th place in the second tier, while sticking to his football-playing philosophy in south Wales. His career path is definitely on an upward curve at the moment and the move to Brighton looks to be a good one.
Potter will change the style of football
Graham Potter is a man accustomed to working on a small budget at Ostersunds and also at Swansea. His coaching skills shone through at both clubs despite those stingy resources and created very good football teams.
Potter is an exciting appointment for the Seagulls. The team played in a rather cautious manner under former boss Hughton. The former Ostersunds boss’ style is completely different. The Seagulls have a highly decent solid squad of players and they certainly have talented players. Their new boss could well make good use of those technically gifted players within their squad.
Brighton can avoid the relegation top-flight
This season Brighton struggled for form and finished the campaign just outside the relegation zone. The team from the south coast are once again one of the favourites to suffer the drop next season.
However, from what Graham Potter has shown during his career, the 44-year-old is more than capable of helping them avoid a fight for survival in the new season while helping improve the style of football too.
Brighton owner Tony Bloom has dismissed the claim that appointing Potter is a gamble. A lot of managerial appointments are gambles, but this just has the feeling of a nice fit.
Graham Potter is an up-and-coming young coach, who has a football ideology. Meanwhile, Brighton are a Premier League club with massive potential and in need of a change of direction.
It will be interesting to say how Potter’s ideas come across on the south coast. However, from the outside looking in, it looks like a highly shrewd appointment.
Will Graham Potter be a success at Brighton?
